Project Highlights

When RailWorks Track Systems built a new storage yard for Cargill at its plant in Eddyville, Iowa, it provided space for storing more than 500 rail cars and saved the company in demurrage fees.

RailWorks Track Systems' job was to build a new storage yard in a Cargill plant in Eddyville, Iowa, about 70 miles southeast of Des Moines. The corn milling facility is in Eddyville, about 70 miles southeast of Des Moines. With the added capacity, Cargill was looking to rid itself of expensive demurrage fees incurred from storing cars on UP- and BNSF-owned track.

In late October 2010, after a four-month delay due to record rainfall amounts in the Midwest, crews were finally able to start placing material on the track bed. To make up for lost time, RailWorks doubled its on-site team and added extra loaders to increase daily production. Crews met Cargill's requirement of 17,000 feet of track and 15 turnouts by yearend and then reached substantial completion by the end of March 2011. Having expanded its yard on the western edge with 37,587 feet of storage tracks and 27 turnouts, Cargill gained space to store about 564 cars. The savings from having eliminated demurrage fees would pay for the expansion project in five years.

Unique Features

The Eddyville facility processes more than a quarter of a million bushels of corn daily to produce ethanol, feed, dextrose and other corn byproducts.